Crawling in the Dark
by Konoha's White Fang
Summary: When all you see is darkness and your mind blames it all on one person, will you be able to let anyone into your hard shell of a heart? KakaSaku - AU. On Hiatus for the time being.


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Crawling in the Dark

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**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Inspired by the song Crawling In The Dark by Hoobastank.**

**A KakaSaku AU**

**Chapter I**

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Darkness, it surrounded him like a suffocating mist, never letting up not even allowing a shred of light into his colorless world. He couldn't honestly remember the last time he'd seen the shiny disc of the sun or the luminous yellow rays that used to enlighten his whole world.

He lived in darkness, engrossed too far that it was impossible for him to leave the pit hole he was in. He didn't allow himself to feel pity for the state he's in, instead he focused all his blame onto one thing in his life.

If it hadn't been for them; for _her_, he wouldn't have had to suffer right now. Tunnels of darkness reached beyond his vision until it completely engulfed him, leaving him naked in the dark with the chilling breeze of the night slapping him in the face in a reprimanding manner.

"Hatake-sama, would you like me to bring you, your breakfast?" Asked a somewhat light voice. The owner of the voice stood with one hand on the expensive wooden door's metal knob while the other behind his back to show his respect.

"No, I'll be right down," a man with disarrayed silver hair and pale white skin replied. His voice strong and deep, loyal to keep all the emotions his owner felt at bay and never leaving them out into the open.

"As you wish." The wooden door of the room clicked shut.

The young silver-haired man stayed motionless, alone in the darkness of his room. He didn't care about the sheet of pitch black that covered the entire room because he had grown accustomed to it a long time ago.

The man heaved a heavy sigh that betrayed the sadness which took a permanent stay in his heart, burdening it and making his life harder to live.

He stood up and straightened his clothes as best as he could. He couldn't see himself in the mirror because of the darkness in the room; the curtains were all drawn shut, forbidding any shreds of stray rays of light from invading the room's privacy.

The man was wearing a pair of dark black pants and a long sleeved shirt holding the color of midnight. The shirt was buttoned up all the way, the first few silver buttons were left untouched and it didn't seem to bother the man even if it was freezing cold outside.

Winter, it reflected his personality well and how his burdened heart felt; no longer warm and able to love. Instead, a cold uncaring stone took the place of his heart.

He slipped on his usual black slippers and grabbed his equally black cane, the tip holding a weird shape of a silver symbol. He opened the door of the room and stepped outside into the well-lit hallway. The rays of light revealing a secret in its wake as it reflected off, dull unfazed pair of eyes, one with the color of charcoal grey and the other of crimson blood with a small black orb in the middle. Three black tomoes surrounding it like guards.

XXXXXX

"Let me help you." A caramel-haired man hurried to help the young Hatake. He couldn't say that he was having feelings of sympathy towards the young man. He just knew that he had had to be there for him since it was not a very good time to leave him alone.

"Thank you Genma," the silver-haired man thanked his friend and butler of his great mansion. As he finally settled on an expensive looking chair, he sighed inwardly at being able to relax at last. It'd been a very hard time for him those past few months, he still had to get used to his 'new state'.

But he was told that he was doing considerably well in adapting to the new life style. Living with only four senses instead of five proved to be hard for him, especially after living most of his life with his sight intact.

"Tell me, Genma: why are you helping me while I'm in this state?"

Genma looked incredulously at his master and friend. He didn't know why he was asking such a question in the first place let alone know the answer to it. He was his friend for god sake.

The sound of crackling wood in the fire place was the one breaking the silence between the two. The dining room was large in space and many paintings for great artists decorated the dark-colored walls. The long rectangular table was situated in the middle of the place. The burning fire was the only light in the room.

"Why are you asking Hatake-sama?" The man wearing the black tux asked, feeling curious to know what was up with his friend and master.

"Quit with the formalities, I know how much you hate them, besides you're my friend, aren't you?"

"Well...Kakashi, what kind of question is that, of course we're friends. You sure, you're okay?" Genma relaxed his posture and immediately his old self popped back into existence, burying the polite servant act deep into his soul.

He took off his black tux jacket and removed the tie he was wearing, throwing them on the table, away from the food. "Stupid clothes," he murmured.

"If you hate them so much then there's no need for you to wear them," Kakashi simply said. Genma only shrugged, though he knew that his gesture went unseen.

He casually walked over to where Kakashi was sitting and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "We're friends, Kakashi. That's what friends are for." He smirked before rummaging through his pockets, searching for his usual senbon. Upon finding it, he placed the sharp needle between his lips.

"What made you take up the position of my butler?" Kakashi felt an arm drop casually around his neck and could immediately tell that Genma was being his old self again. He couldn't stop a smile from tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It's not as bad as you think, besides, you're not exactly in a position to be able to protect yourself." the normally-flirting man shrugged and moved away to sit on the chair next to his friend's.

"So they're still after me, huh?" Kakashi sighed and picked on his food, feeling his appetite draining away from him. He didn't complain though, as he knew the consequences that would come out of taking up that position.

His feelings were somewhat mixed between frustration and pride. He was proud of himself for being such a well-known character in the society, heck, even in the world! But he was also sick of living like that, always having bodyguards going around with him. He couldn't stay alone for a moment to think and it was safe to say that he was delighted that he had one of his closest friends acting as his bodyguard.

"Well...you're after all the captain of the ship! You practically own the most successful and the biggest company in the world," Genma exclaimed loudly so as to prove his point before chewing on a piece of bread and drinking some orange juice.

"The captain of the ship," Kakashi echoed absentminded while toying around with his own juice. He still wasn't used to seeing everything in black, his loss of sight was beginning to be quite a hindrance lately, especially in the field of his business.

"You know, it's all because of those bastards in the competing company; the Akatsuki. Ever since the Hatake's business started to get better, they tried to destroy you and your company," the caramel haired man cursed under his breath with a frown marring his handsome features.

"You're still unable to find any evidences that would lead you to _that_ woman?" The silver-haired man asked, a dull ache weighing on his heart, making him feel uncomfortable.

"No one's heard anything about her since that day," the butler replied while shaking his head negatively.

"I see."

XXXXXX

"Good morning Sakura-senpai!"

"Good morning, Aiko-chan," a pink haired woman replied back with a cheerful smile gracing her perfect rosy lips. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a red top with a small cheery blossom imprinted in the middle. Her white lab coat hanging loosely over her feminine frame.

Her short pink hair swayed slightly with her movements as she strode towards her office. She twisted the silver doorknob and entered her peaceful office with a sigh. Her feet automatically taking her towards her desk where a chart was waiting for her.

Her office was considerably big for one person but she enjoyed the more space which came with her position. A glassy window was situated behind her desk which overlooked the green scenery of the hospital's garden. To her right, was a coat hanger and next to it, stood a mahogany closet which was full of files and patients' records. A chart was lying on top of her desk.

She picked her chart up and quickly went over the names written on it before staggering away to heal her patients. She looked down at her chart again and went to the location written on it.

_'Room 315, 315, 315...found it!'_

Her heels were clicking as she walked towards the room of her first patient, the fluorescent light illuminating her way and reflecting off the ceramics floor.

She knocked gracefully on the door before turning the cold doorknob and entering the white room.

"Good morning, Kin-san. How are you today?" Sakura asked as she read through the information written on her medical chart before looking at him curiously with big jade eyes.

"I think I've broken a finger or two." He smiled sheepishly at her and showed her his bruised hand. Both his index finger and thumb were swollen red. She moved closer and inspected his fingers before saying. "Yep, they're broken alright but it's not too serious."

"How did that happen?" She asked curiously as she prepared a needle and gently injected it into the man's arm. She waited for a good few minutes as the sedative did its magic and numbed the bruised area before starting on getting his fingers back to their normal order.

"I kind of bumped into the wall rather harshly." He rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand in embarrassment.

"Well...that kind of things happen," she assured him with a smile before bandaging his hand and scribbling down some notes on a sheet of paper. "These are some medications to lessen the pain and help in keeping any infections from forming." She handed him the piece of paper before leaving the room.

"Thank you, Haruno-san."

"Anytime, just get well soon," she replied without looking back and continued on her way.

"Haruno-sensei!" A young frantic looking medic came running towards Sakura, a look of utter terror painting her face. She panted as she stopped in front of the pink-haired medic for a fraction of a second before grabbing her hand and pulling her with her. "Two men just came in and one of them is in a very critical condition."

"What about the other?" The pink-haired woman asked hurriedly as her feet automatically carried her towards the emergency room.

"He's not suffering any serious damage only a gunshot in his arm though he can't seem to calm down," the young nurse answered while trying to keep up with Sakura.

Without any further ado, Sakura ran faster than the frantic medic and readied herself to face the worse, forgetting everything about the chart of names she was holding earlier as she tossed it onto a nearby empty bed.

She rushed into a room full of nurses and doctors running around and quickly skidded to a halt in front of a bed with a thrashing man.

"Calm down, we are here to heal you," she tried to reason with him but he only stopped to give her the coldest glare she had ever seen.

"I don't need any help! My friend is the one who needs your attention not me. I was supposed to protect him but I failed. You have to help him, do you understand!" He tried to get up but was held down by many pairs of hands, forcing him against the soaked-with-blood bed.

She took a step back away from him, never breaking eye contact with him until she nodded her head hurriedly, and left to attend to the other patient. She could only identify a patch of dark silver hair. She couldn't even pinpoint the color of his hair anymore; all of his blood was spilled and was running freely from his multiple wounds.

His face was so pale that she feared that it would be too late for him. Though, she quickly shook the unpleasant thoughts off and started on checking his vitals first. She would never think that it was too late for someone unless he was already dead. She wasn't planning on letting anyone die during her shift and she was not going to start doing it now.

"Insert a tube to help him breathe," Sakura ordered one of the nurses with an authoritative voice. The nurse nodded quickly and started on inserting a tube down his throat to finally settle in his lungs, allowing him to breathe easier.

She hastily let her eyes scan over his form, in attempt of trying to discover the most-terrifying-looking wound and she found it. A nasty hole was letting crimson liquid flow out of it freely in his chest. She quickly tore away the bloodied shirt, that she suspected used to be a very nice shade of black but was ruined now, and gasped at the sight before her.

She couldn't even put her finger on the wound as she noticed his whole chest, that she suspected used to be a shade of living white, was painted with crimson. A bead of sweat trailed down her forehead as she worried her lower lip.

_'This is worse than I thought.'_

She noticed that the wound was caused from a bullet and that it clearly pierced his right lung and all the way to his back, leaving a trail of destroyed tissues and cells. One thing was looking bright with the man's condition and it was all because of the fact that the bullet wasn't in his body anymore.

Ordering everyone to prepare for a lung surgery, she quickly grabbed a scalpel. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she summoned all her self-composure and let the scalpel do its work. She cut the man's chest open and revealed the dying lung. It was full of fluids, she noticed, so she asked for suction to clear the view of the damaged lung.

She tried to do her best in sewing the wound closed and after long tension-filled hour, she breathed heavily and gestured for a nurse to put into the wound some water. The nurse did what she was told to do and emptied the content of the bowl into the wound.

Sakura waited for few minutes which seemed to be like eternity for her. Watching the lung rising and falling with each breath and observing the water for any bubbles of air in it. Upon seeing nothing, she smiled and gestured for the nurses around her to start cleaning the wound and closing it up.

Next she averted her attention towards the temporary-stopped bleeding injury in his left shoulder. A gunshot was visible and she noticed that the bullet was still inside his flesh, mingling itself deeper and damaging more tissues and cells.

"Clamp," Sakura simply said while extending her hand and waiting for the cold metal to settle on her palm. She took it gratefully and started on getting the bullet out of the injury.

She bit her lower lip, a habit she did whenever she got stressed or she concentrated on something too hard. Careful not too cause any more damage, she gently pulled out the silver offending object and threw it into a silver shiny tray with a clang.

Then, she began on cleaning the angry bloody wound with a piece of cotton drenched with the sterilizing alcohol. After doing that, she sewed the tissues and refrained anymore blood from flowing out from the wound.

"Attach four units of blood to him, he's lost too much blood for his own sake," Sakura said when she noticed how pale the man was.

The bubble-gum-haired woman took a look at the silver-haired man's face, she noticed a painful scar running down his left eye and couldn't help but wonder about it. She glanced at his body one last time, making sure that there was nothing really serious about it before stepping away from the bed. Only a few scratches here and there but nothing the nurses couldn't handle.

She took off her white plastic cloves with a clack before throwing them into a nearby bin.

"Have his breathing and heart monitored, I don't want to miss anything critical and also call me when he wakes up," she commanded before leaving to see the other brown-haired patient.

The nurses nodded and continued on with their work.

Sakura walked towards the now-calm man with a relaxed expression and smiled genuinely at him. "We managed to save him. But he's still not over the red line, he's condition was a lot worse than yours when he came in."

"Thanks for doing your best," the man thanked her with a flirtatious smile spreading over his lips.

"That's what I do." Sakura ignored the man's smile and excused herself politely, saying that she had other matters to attend to but that she'd check on them after awhile.

XXXXXX

"About time you woke up."

Feeling nothing but pain assaulting his senses, Kakashi took a deep calming breath before stirring his eyes open, revealing dull orbs. He tried to breathe using his nose but found no need when he noticed a tube inside his mouth all the way to his lungs.

He only creased his eyes to show that he was smiling.

"No, seriously, you've been sleeping like a dead man for a week."

Kakashi could only take a deep breath and close his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't of a good help back then." Genma bowed his head in shame and watched as his friend quickly gestured with his hand that it was not his fault in the first place.

Genma smirked and looked over his friend, checking the state he was in. "You look like shit," he simply said.

Kakashi could only roll his eyes before attempting to look at the brown-haired man, his keen hearing helping him in identifying the location of his friend. Genma was leaning against the white wall next to Kakashi's bed. The room had a single metal chair next to the bed and a small wooden table near a window. A small vase with a few flowers rested on it.

Genma only had one injured arm and it was bandaged to look like it was broken. A few scratches here and there but nothing too serious.

A clean cut marred his right cheek, running horizontally along his pale skin. Kakashi sighed or tried to sigh, considering that there was a tube in his mouth, preventing him from speaking or doing anything that required his mouth to function.

Genma, expecting Kakashi to ask him something if it wasn't for the tube inside his mouth, quickly answered. "And before you try to choke yourself while asking; no, you're not leaving the hospital any time soon, you'll be leaving once the doctor _allows_ you to leave," he emphasized on the word 'allows' just to get his point clear.

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows and looked away from the source of the voice, it didn't exactly matter to him since he could see nothing but black, but he wanted to show his displeasure and that was the only way to do that in his condition.

A soft knocking on the door echoed throughout the quiet room, and all heads turned towards the source of the voice.

"Oh, hey doctor-san!" Genma moved away from the wall and went to welcome the pink-haired woman. "I didn't catch your name, by the way." he gave her a toothy smile, clearly trying to hit on her.

Sakura only smiled back politely and said. "Haruno Sakura." She took his hand in hers and shook it.

"Shiranui Genma, pleasure to meet you."

Sakura moved away from the obviously lecherous man to check on the silver-haired patient. She noticed that his eyebrows were furrowed in anger and she couldn't help but wonder about the reason. She neared him and placed a hand on his forehead.

She felt him flinching away from her touch and she quickly pulled back her hand to her side. She looked at the other man in the room questioningly and he only shrugged. "Uh, he is not exactly the type to like women."

Realization dawned on Sakura and she uttered an "Oh." Before asking him. "So does he swing the other way?" She wondered curiously.

A chocked gasp escaped Kakashi's lips and was followed by a fit of coughing. Genma chocked on his own saliva and hit his chest a couple of times to save himself. After calming down, he scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, a sheepish smile on his lips.

_Kakashi is so going to want my head on a silver plate._

He chuckled nervously as he watched the young pink-haired woman rush to aid his partner.

"Calm down, I'll take the tube out for you, just calm down!" She tried to stop him from moving a lot as she reached forward to get a hold of the tube and accidentally her hand touched Kakashi's own hand in the process.

It all happened in a blur; Kakashi's hand gripped her small wrist in a painful grip then pushed her away from him with force, making her fall back on her back.

Sakura let out a small yelp of surprise as she felt her body collide with the cold floor. She blinked a couple of times, trying to process what happened into her head, one minute she was trying to calm him down and the next she found herself being thrown onto the floor.

She moved to stand up but noticed a hand in front of her. She looked up and saw Genma giving her a sad smile before she took his offered hand and was hauled up to her feet. She stood on wobbly feet and took in a deep shaking breath as she dusted away invisible dust.

"I'm sorry for what my idiot friend did." Genma shot the silver-haired man a glare although knowing full well that he couldn't see it, before looking back at the shocked medic.

"No, it's okay. It's understandable; I'll just remove the tube and be on my way." That time, she took cautious steps towards the bed. Her hands hesitantly reaching forward to touch the tube while taking quick glances at the man in order to see any changes in his expression.

"Please take a deep breath and hold it in until I tell you otherwise." She started the process of removing the tube before she said again while readying herself. "Let out the breath you took and don't stop unless you can't feel the tube inside."

She pulled the plastic tube out quickly and placed it on a nearby tray before going back to check on the patient. A coughing fit took hold of him and she tried to ease it, rubbing soothing circles on his back. Once the coughing stopped, he moved away from her and moved his head to look at the opposite direction.

Sakura sighed, feeling a bang of hurt take hold of her heart before she let out a forced smile and turned to look at the other male. "I think my job here is done. A nurse will come by to check on him every once and awhile, and if you need anything just press the button near his bed," she instructed.

She took one last look at the mysterious silver-haired man before leaving.

"Hey, what do you think about having a cup of coffee?" Genma asked with his usual flirtatious smile in place.

"Are you asking me out?" Sakura arched a delicate pink eyebrow at the smiling man before her. She noticed out of the corner of her eye, the man on the bed stiffening and many questions ran through her head like a never ending train.

"Maybe?" Genma shot her his most dazzling smirks and waited for her to answer.

Sakura pondered over the thought for awhile before smiling back. "Coffee sounds good. The cafeteria is on the first floor. I'll meet you there at---" She looked at her watch and read '3:45' then continued. "Five?"

"I'll be waiting for you."

She waved lightly before leaving the room and attending to her other duties, drinking coffee with Genma might help her in figuring out that man's problem, heck, maybe she could even catch his name.

XXXXXX

"Sakura-chan!" Genma waved his uninjured hand around to get Sakura's attention. She smiled at him and moved to sit across of him, placing her own cup of coffee on the table.

The cafeteria was a spacious place with lots of vacant tables and seats so it wasn't hard to find the caramel-haired man. A coffee vending machine was near the door which was divided into two parts and beside it stood other vending machines which sold different things. There was also a counter which sold snacks and sandwiches.

"I'm happy that you agreed," he said happily while carefully sipping his own coffee.

"It's nice to meet new _friends_," Sakura replied, taking care to emphasize on the word 'friends'. She didn't want to start a relationship with anyone at the moment. She had a lot of work to do and no time for love or relationships.

She only agreed so that she could ask about his partner, she wouldn't hide the fact that he had caught her attention and she was willing to learn more about him.

Genma seemed to accept that they were nothing but friends and that her acceptance to his invitation was only a break from her work. He didn't mind that though, it wasn't always that he had female friends without being sexually involved so it was a nice kind of change.

"Yeah, thanks again for saving Kakashi," he said lightly.

The pink-haired medic raised a pink eyebrow and watched him with questioning eyes. "Kakashi?" She inquired.

"You know, Hatake Kakashi. The owner of the Hatake Industries." He studied her face as recognition dawned on her. Her jade captivating orbs widened slightly and her mouth cracked a little, Sakura sobered out of her daze and only uttered an "Oh."

"Well, what happened to you two?" She asked, not helping the fact that she wanted to know more about them. After all, it wasn't an everyday news that the owner of a great company was attacked relentlessly and almost got killed in the process.

"It's a long story." Genma tried to evade the question and stared at the black liquid, finding it to be quite interesting for a reason he only knew.

Sakura, taking on the hint that he didn't wish to say anything, let the subject drop for now. She would ask him about it later.

"So, how's your arm?" She changed the subject and knew that she chose the right choice the moment she saw the thankful look in his eyes.

"It's great! It wasn't exactly such a big deal." He smirked as he moved his injured arm around before suddenly wincing in pain.

Sakura tried to muffle her laugh. "Right, I'm sure that your arm is just fine," she said sarcastically. "Just don't strain it too much," she ordered him.

"Yes ma'am," Genma replied seriously with a smirk.

Sakura smiled and looked at her watch to check the time and was surprised to find that it read '5:30'. She hastily stood up and grabbed her cup of coffee before looking apologetically at a shocked Genma.

"I'm sorry but my break is over," she apologized.

"No worries."

"I'll come by later to check on how you two are doing," she said before moving towards the exit.

She made her way towards her office through the hallways of the hospital, twisting the silver doorknob then entering the abandoned office. Pushing the door close with the heel of her foot, she headed towards her desk and plopped down on her comfortable chair.

She scanned her desk and noticed a profusely huge pile of papers that needed to be reviewed and signed. Sakura heaved a sigh of exasperation before setting to work.

_'Tsunade-sama must be slacking off again.' _

A few hours passed and the pile of papers only seemed to increase. Her fingers ached from over using them and she had to stuff a yawn with the back of her small hand. Soft knocking resonated throughout the quiet office and Sakura raised her head to see who it was.

"Come in," she said. "Shizune-senpai, what brings you here?" She asked cheerfully; glad to find a distraction from the never ending pile of paperwork.

"I thought that you would need a cup of coffee to keep you awake with all the paperwork." Shizune smiled and placed the caffeine beverage on the desk. Sakura inhaled the wonderful smell of the drink and looked at the woman in front of her with a grateful smile.

"Thanks a lot, I was beginning to get sleepy."

"I'm sorry about all the paperwork, but you know Tsunade-sama, she got drunk again and now I'm stuck with her, making sure that she doesn't do anything embarrassing." Shizune sighed and smiled apologetically.

Sakura waved her hand in front of her as if brushing her apology away. "No need to apologize, it's my job after all." Sakura beamed at her.

"Thanks," Shizune said and made a move to leave the office and let Sakura finish her work.

"Anytime."

With that, Sakura was left alone again in the office, with the company of the annoying pile of paper. She massaged the bridge of her nose and stretched back on her chair, relieving the kinks and knots that formed in her neck and back.

After feeling satisfied with the cracks her body emitted, she went back to work, determined to finish as soon as possible. She wanted to check on the two men before she left for her cozy apartment.

-

To be continued.....

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First of all, I would like to thank everyone reading my stories and reviewing them. And no, starting this new story doesn't mean that I'm giving up on the rest of my stories. But just to let you all know, I started this one because I was afraid that someone else might use this idea and I couldn't let that happen :P

**Tell me what you think about it, is it worth the effort?**

**~KWF~ **


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